Three point hitches are well-known within the art for providing a method of interconnect and control between a vehicle, such as a tractor, and an implement, such as a plow, mower, or tiller. Three point hitches typically provide manual or automatic control of the level of the implement and the depth of the implement through a system of extendable arms and lifting mechanisms. A hitch such as this for a tractor was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,572,763, to Cannon, et al. The Cannon patent describes a variety of three point hitches which provide the ability to extend the two lower draft arms and to controllably extend the upper link of the hitch, thereby allowing ease of interconnect of the hitch to an implement, and providing lift and height control of the implement. This functionality is common among three point hitches found on tractors.
Another common function found on tractor-borne three point hitches is a power takeoff, or "PTO", which is a form of mechanical transmission that provides a power linkage between the tractor's engine and the implement. The PTO allows the implement to receive power for its operation, such as turning blades on a mower.
However, tractors are somewhat specialized vehicles and are not well suited for use on public roadways. If a farm implement dealer needs to deliver a new or repaired implement to a rural farm, it cannot be attached to a tractor and driven down a roadway conveniently. Also, if an empty field is to be mowed and the field is located in a suburban environment, a tractor with mower implement must be stored on a trailer and driven to and from the field using a pulling vehicle, such as a truck.
There are known within the art some very light duty "class zero" three point hitches available for various brands of four-wheel motorcycles. Because of the light weight of "four wheelers" and the relatively small engine output of these vehicles, they are not suitable for use of the larger, heavier duty class I, II, and III farm implements.
To solve one particular need for a three point hitch, the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,096 to Johnson, et al, provides a three point hitch mounted on a common pick up truck. The Johnson hitch system does provide some lift control, but does not provide a PTO means. Further, the Johnson hitch system requires permanent or semi-permanent modifications to the pick up truck in order to provide the stable mechanical mount to the vehicle, which further limits its use as it cannot be stored in a barn and quickly attached to any available pick up truck.
A more flexible system for mounting a variety of utility implements to the bed of a pick up is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,883,020 to Dehn. The Dehn system is especially well suited for bed-mounted implements, such as towing cranes or wrecker rigs, and dump beds. While the Dehn system provides quick and easy installation on a truck, it does not provide a three point hitch and is not suitable for adaption to a three point hitch.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a system and method for mounting a three point hitch to a pick up truck quickly and easily. The mounting apparatus should not require modifications to the standard pick up truck hardware, and should not require permanent or semi-permanent installation of the hitch system.
Further, there exists a need in the art for this three point hitch system to allow installation and removal of the hitch to and from the pick up truck by a single human operator.
Finally, there exists a need in the art for the three point hitch system to provide a power takeoff so that the hitch is useful with powered implements such as mowers.